F1 Madness

Tag: lewis hamilton

  • F1 2017: United States GP – Friday Practice Round-up

    F1 2017: United States GP – Friday Practice Round-up

    Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton topped both of Friday’s free practice sessions ahead of the United States grand prix.

    The first session proved a rather difficult one to read as most of the running was done on the intermediate tyre. While conditions remained slippery, and tricky, several cars spun out but, thankfully, didn’t incur any damage.

    Brendon Hartley made his debut for the Toro Rosso team alongside Sean Geleal in the morning session while Daniel Kvyat returned to the fold for the afternoon session and the remainder of the weekend. Carlos Sainz impressed in his first outing as a Renault driver by immediately out-pacing his new teammate Nico Hulkenberg.

    While championship leader Hamilton topped both 90 minute sessions the Ferrari’s of Vettel and Raikkonen and Red Bull’s of Verstappen and Ricciardo were ever present. With regard to long run pace there appeared to be little to choose between the top three teams. However, Vettel and Ferrari endured some suspension issues late on the afternoon session which were seemingly sorted.

    With a raft of penalties to be served on Sunday’s grid the verdict is still out on whether Verstappen will incur his own penalty for a new Internal combustion engine. As it stands Red Bull have not yet revealed whether this will be the case.

    The organizers of the Texas Gp along with the FIA and F1 teams have all done their bit to highlight Breast Cancer Awareness month with everything from racing gloves to shoes to the ultra soft tyre being accented in pink for the weekend. In conjunction with the Susan G. Komen foundation F1 is hoping to shine a light on finding a cure for and spreading awareness of breast cancer.

    The weekend is  an ultra important one for Vettel and Ferrari who must win in Texas to keep the championship fight going. In contrast, Hamilton, sure to be the more relaxed of the two championship contenders, is sitting pretty with a 59 point lead.

  • Hamilton Dominates Friday Practice for 2017 US Grand Prix

    Hamilton Dominates Friday Practice for 2017 US Grand Prix

    Lewis Hamilton had a rather dominant Friday during both free practice sessions for the United States Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

    Hamilton, who has one hand on the drivers championship trophy coming into this weekend, looked comfortable in his car as soon as he took to the track comfortably setting the fastest times for both sessions.

    Free Practice 1

    The session got off to a damp and overcast start after drizzle before the start of the session meant that the session started with drivers heading out on the intermediate tyres.

    Hamilton set the pace early on in the session on the intermediate tyres but was then beaten by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. As the track dried out, it was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel who ventured out on the super soft tyre and immediately set the fastest lap at the time. Few runs later and Hamilton was once again the fastest of the session with a best time of 1:36.335.

    Vettel finished 2nd fastest more that half a second off the pace with a best time of 1:36.928. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes finished 3rd fastest with a best time of 1:36.979.

    Max Verstappen finished 4th for Red Bull while team-mate Daniel Ricciardo could only manage 16th after the team decided to make a lengthy setup change to his car which meant he had to sit out quite a bit of the session.

    Stoffel Vandoorne finished 5th for McLaren with Felipe Massa for Williams in 6th. Kimi Raikkonen was 7th ahead of the Force India pair of Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez in 8th and 9th respectively.

    On his first outing with Renault, Carlos Sainz finished an impressive 10th.

    Although returning to F1 after a short break, Daniil Kvyat had to wait just a bit longer to get back in the car as Sean Geleal was given a FP1 outing. Sticking with Toro Rosso, Brandon Hartley, in his F1 debut finished his first session in 14th with a best time of 1:39.267


    Free Practice 2

    Free Practice 2 got underway with improved track conditions where once again, Lewis Hamilton set the pace on his ultra soft run with a 1:34.668.

    While Hamilton enjoyed the comfort of being the fastest is was a different story at Ferrari. While Kimi Raikkonen was able to enjoy some constant running, Sebastian Vettel ran into some trouble on his car and spent most of his time in the garage. Vettel was delayed in getting going in the session after Ferrari mechanics were working on his car. He emerged from the pits and got going. After a spin at Turn 19, he was back in the pits for a lengthy period.

    After emerging from the pits, he was back in his garage a lap later after reporting something wrong with his front axle. Vettel was able to get some running and put in a 3rd fastest lap of the session but it was still considerably off Hamilton’s time.

    Red Bull showed some good pace with Max Verstappen who finished the session 2nd fastest some 0.397s off Hamilton’s benchmark. Bottas was 4th fastest ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in 5th and fellow countryman Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari in 6th.

    Fernando Alonso had a quiet but productive session and was rewarded with the 7th fastest time ahead of the Williams of Felipe Massa in 8th and the two Force India’s in 9th and 10th. Sergio Perez finishing ahead of his team mate this time.

    The tail wind at T19 which caught Vettel out caught out a few other drivers as well.

    Notable performances from Carlos Sainz in the Renault finishing ahead of team mate Hulkenberg while Daniil Kvyat finished 13th, laying down the challenge for Hartley who ended his session 17th fastest.

    Although just managing to complete 11 laps, Vettel seemed rather relaxed after the session. The long run pace of the Ferrari should be encouraging for him as it looks that Ferrari has the better race pace over Mercedes and Red Bull.

    It looks like it may be another smooth weekend for Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton while Vettel and Ferrari will have an uphill battle from here.

  • 2017 United States Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    2017 United States Grand Prix: Thursday Press Conference – Part 1

    PART ONE: DRIVERS – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes), Brendon HARTLEY (Toro Rosso), Carlos SAINZ (Renault), Marcus ERICSSON (Sauber)

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, five-time US Grand Prix winner, three-time F1 world champion, US Grand Prix always a big one for your, personally and for the team, no doubt many commitments in the run-up to the event, but I just wondered how much you enjoyed your hours spent at NASA yesterday?

    Lewis HAMILTON : Good morning everyone, super happy to be here of course and had an incredible day yesterday, having a bit of a comedown today. I was just buzzed all day yesterday because it’s always been something I’ve wanted to do. It’s always something I’ve been fascinated about, space and space travel particularly. So to actually go there… and I had a million questions. I’m sure the guy got fed up with me. I asked a lot of questions and I got to see a lot of great things, some of the new technology they are working on and yeah, I want to go back.

     

    You stand on the threshold of your fourth Driver’s world championship this weekend, but does a part of you regret that the fight has sort of gone out of it now with all the misfortunes that Vettel and Ferrari suffered on the Asian leg in Singapore, Malaysia and Japan?

    LH: No I don’t feel any type of way about it.

     

    But obviously you’ve got such a massive margin now. There was such a tension throughout the season up to September but there’s much less tension now from your point of view, approaching the races?

    LH: Nothing has changed for me, man. Everything is exactly the same as it was going into the last race, going into the second half of the season; it’s exactly the same mentally for me. Maybe it’s changed from your perspective, but for me it hasn’t.

     

    Fair enough. Thanks for that. Marcus, the seats are filling up now for 2018. Are you comfortable with the position you are in and do you have any guarantees about next season?

    Marcus ERICSSON: I think in Formula One when you don’t have a contract signed you can never be comfortable, so it’s important for me to push hard now in the last few races to show that I should be on the grid for next year.

     

    You’ve never been outqualified I believe by a team-mate here at Austin, what do you like particularly about this track?

    ME: I didn’t know that but that’s good. I enjoy this track. I think it’s the best one of the new tracks on the calendar. It has a good mix of very fast corners. The first sector is really good fun to drive and really challenging and I look forward to driving it with these new cars as well. I think it’s going to be quite impressive. It’s a good mix of corners on this track and it’s enjoyable to driver.

     

    Turning to Brendon Hartley, 2017 Le Mans 24 Hours winner, welcome to your grand prix debut. Tell us, who called who, what part did Porsche play in it all and where is it all leading?

    Brendon HARTLEY: Good questions. Actually, when it was announced that Porsche would stop endurance racing in LMP1 for next year, I called Helmut Marko and I said: ‘Look, I’m a different driver than I was 10 years ago, I’ve learned a lot, and if there is ever and opportunity I am ready.” He didn’t say much, he just said he got the message, and three months later he made the call. This happened very quickly. I didn’t know about it much sooner than the press did. It’s been quite a whirlwind of a couple of weeks to arrive here. Yeah, I’m pretty relaxed at the moment, all things considered. Really looking forward to getting out on track. Obviously I’ve had quite a bit of time to chat to the engineers, to go through some data, a little bit of time on the sim. But I’m looking forward to free practice one and see how comfortable I feel and working towards the race start on Sunday, which is a big moment for me, so yeah, really excited.

     

    When you say you are a different driver from 10 years ago, what was wrong with you as a driver 10 years ago that made it go wrong with Helmut and how have you changed?

    BH: I guess I wasn’t ready. I had some success in the early days, I won the Formula Renault championship, I became the reserve driver, had my first F1 test at 18 years old and I guess I just didn’t deal with the pressure. I stopped enjoying it, I wasn’t happy; I was pretty young and away from home. When the Formula One dream, so to speak, stopped in 2010, I picked myself up, I found endurance racing and yeah, I have learned a lot from that experience. Being in the LMP1 programme, a high-profile category, where there is a lot of pressure, probably not that dissimilar to Formula One in some ways, in that respect, in development of the race car, and working with team-mates has been great. I’m a lot stronger than I was back then, basically. I wasn’t ready at 18 years old. I like to think I’m ready now. I’m not very prepared for this weekend, I haven’t the car, I haven’t driven a single-seater since 2012, but I like to think that Porsche LMP1 has hopefully prepared me well.

     

    Excellent. Thank you very much for that. Carlos, splendid in yellow. You’ve made your move to Renault this weekend. Why? Why is it important to do four races at the end of this season, to get your head around the new team ahead of next year? In what ways will you benefit from this?

    Carlos SAINZ: First of all, I think that 2018 cars will be an evolution of this year’s cars. So every input I can have regarding this year’s car, every feeling I can get from every single area of the car, I’m sure it will help me for next year. On top of that, it’s always better to meet engineers, PR people, team bosses… start working along together with all of them four races earlier that gives us a bit of an advantage for 2018 rather than going straight into winter testing in 2018.

     

    So I think the thing we all want to know is how close can you expect to be to Hulkenberg’s pace in qualifying, your new team-mate this weekend, given the amount of time you will have with an unfamiliar car on Friday and Saturday in practice? What’s your goal?

    CS: Let’s wait and see, no? I think my main target has to be to go session by session. I’m the first one who wants to be on the pace straight away, but I cannot get too excited about that. I need to cover all the procedures, all the steps that I want to take, little by little, to get to know the car. I need to adapt myself to the car and I need to adapt the car to myself at the same time. That takes a bit of time and I’m going to go step by step and hopefully get there as soon as possible.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

     

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Équipe) Lewis, do you have any explanation of your strengths in qualifying, even when your car is not as good as you would like?

    LH: I think it’s just about know the car and knowing where you can push at those areas. Of course there are weaknesses but still you can find a way to exploit those weaknesses and just about get by. It’s been a fun car to drive because it’s not been perfect. So it’s then relied on a lot of your ability to balance it in uncomfortable scenarios or situations, which is something that I’ve always loved doing. It’s how I started in life, with not such a great go-kart when I was young, so that’s about it really.

     

    Q: (Joey Barnes – Motorsports Tribune) Lewis, the fun exchange with Takuma Sato on the podium got a lot of buzz here in the States. Talk about your interest, potentially, in the Indy 500 after getting a chance to have that exchange with him?

    LH: Honestly, it hasn’t inspired me to do the Indy 500. I’ve always respected it and appreciated it and I got to watch part of it when Fernando did it, which was super exciting. I love the idea of drivers being able to do more than one series. Just the other day I happened to get to drive a Formula One car on an oval, which was interesting. I have a huge amount of respect for those drivers; it’s quite scary when you approach those banks at the speed that they do. But I personally don’t have any particular desire to… maybe one day I’ll day I’ll have some fun and go out. Obviously I get lots of opportunities to do those things but I have no plans to go there and do anything serious.

     

    Q: (Chris Medland – Racer) Brendon, what have the team have said to you about their expectations for this weekend and longer term what may come after this weekend?

    BH: Actually, there have been no expectations set. To be honest, some of the team members I’m just meeting for the first time today, and yesterday during the seat fit. I made the seat yesterday. Nothing has really been said yet. Obviously I want to do the best that I can. I’m trying not to put to many expectations on it. In some ways I’m underprepared but obviously I want to do the best job I can. Nothing has been said by the team, and also, going forward nothing has been said yet.

     

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Lewis, you’ve talked about being on another level since the summer break. I was just wondering, what’s changed for you within the team, and maybe for you personally, over that break and into these races that’s allowed you to operate on that higher level of consistency?

    LH: I think it’s really just been that confidence of understanding the car a lot better this year, particularly in the second half of the season; knowing it’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, I would say that we are constantly evolving the process in which we work together, myself and my engineers. So we’d often hit the ground running with a balance I’m more comfortable with, which then naturally helps you easily step forward throughout the weekend in the right direction. And otherwise, just on my driving side, I don’t know, I think there are a lot of positive things happening in my life. There are a lot of interesting things forecast over these next 18 months, so I guess that’s an exciting and uplifting thing. So I’m arriving at these races, generally, with an abundance of positivity; it helps keeps your mind in the right place. Obviously, Toto and the team, Mercedes, have been incredibly supportive of all the different things that I’m into and the things I do and the way I move, which enable me to be in that position, and which are much appreciated.

     

    Q: (Alan Baldwin – Reuters) Lewis, there are reports in some of the media that you might be considering taking a knee on Sunday during the US anthem. Can you clarify that? What is your position?

    LH: I don’t really have a position and I don’t have any plans.

     

    Q: (Joey Barnes – Motorsports Tribune) Brendon, looking at this track, in 2013, I go back to your event in the Grand Am endurance race. How fitting is it to have this F1 start here and how critical is it to come here to a place where you have all this track time?

    BH: Yeah, it’s definitely nice coming to my Formula One debut at a track I know very well. Like you say, it dates back to 2013 and I think I’ve driven here almost every year since. Actually, as a racing driver, learning a track, when you have enough experience, it can happen quite quickly. I think learning the car will be the bigger challenge. The big tyres, the big downforce that these Formula One cars have at the moment, obviously they are setting lap records at every track they go to. Yeah, I’m going to have a bit on my hands tomorrow and the track is only a small part of it. But yeah, looking forward to it.

     

    Q: (Andrew Benson – BBC Sport) Brendon, what have the team told you about the chances of you continuing for the rest of the season?

    BH: Not much, actually, so I’m trying to just focus on the weekend and see how that goes and see what comes from it.

     

    Q: (Frédéric Ferret – L’Équipe) Brendon, have you asked Sébastien Buemi or Mark Webber for some advice on how to drive a Formula One?

    BH: Yeah, I’ve obviously… all the friends I have in the sport I’ve been asking for a bit of advice. I saw Mark this morning for breakfast. I saw Daniel, who is one of my best buddies as well, Daniel Ricciardo, I saw him two nights ago, I asked him for all the advice I could manage to get out of him regarding tyres. Yeah, some of it is going to come down to, like I say, driving free practice one, seeing how I go and then asking some of those questions. A lot of them aren’t really relevant until I’ve actually experience the car.

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Lewis, just following on from the question about the protest take the knee, I’m just wondering if anything had changed, you’d spoken to anyone, or anyone had spoken to you about not doing it, because you said you have no plans to do it on Sunday?

    LH: Of course there has been a lot of mention of it – not of the kneeling, but just of the whole situation here in America, so I get to speak to a lot of… I know black and white people that live here in America, so I get quite a view of what’s happening here in the States and opinions from Americans here about the movement, which I think is pretty huge, and which you’ve seen that I’ve posted about it, because I respect it highly, and I found that the movement that [Colin] Kaepernick started is awesome and I’m very much in support of it. But I’m here to win and that’s the top of my priorities at the moment and I’m not really focused on anything else at the moment.

     

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Question for Lewis, Ferrari seems to have fallen into a technical crisis in the last few races. Do you expect them to react here? Sebastian could be a strong fighter at the end of the season as well?

    LH: I think he’s been a strong fighter all year and just because he’s obviously had a few issues technically, but I think still the car is as good as it’s always been. For sure they’ll have some sort of upgrade coming into this weekend. They’ve definitely had a couple of hiccups but I anticipate they’ll be very strong this weekend and for the last four races – so that’s why nothing changes for me. I’ve still got to continue to keep the pressure on and there’s no reason to back out, just got to keep pushing forwards.

     

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, you’ve been a sheriff here the last four years. How would it feel to take this win, this Championship, a fourth World Championship here in the United States again, for the second time, in front of many children who look up to you or are inspired by you, by your story and would love to see you win here?

    LH: Honestly I think the talk of the Champion win this weekend I think is silly really. I mean, Sebastian is going to be… you can’t expect them to have a difficult weekend again. They’re going to be quick, they have an opportunity to win. The Championship, as long as it’s done in the next four races, that’s my focus. I honestly couldn’t care less if it’s here on the last race, as long as it’s done. I think winning here is the most important thing for me, particularly in the midst of all that’s going on in the country. I think that is a priority for me. You know what I’m talking about.

     

    Q: (Oliver Brown – The Daily Telegraph) Lewis, you spoke quite tantalisingly just then about exciting things happening in your life over these 18 months. I just wondered if you could flesh that out at all, whether there was anything in particularly helping to lift your spirits for race weekends at the moment?

    LH: I can’t tell you what it is, all top secret stuff but just positive things. When you’re a racing driver often you’re put in a box and there’s talk of you not doing much but being a racing driver and there’s a lot more to me than being a racing driver and I have a lot of great things that are happening. So, it’s just, after a lot of work, a lot of trial and error, a lot of pushback over the years, to see positive things starting to happen, things starting to move in the direction I was hoping it would eventually move – which you’ll see come to fruition in the next 12 to 18 months. That’s allowing me to take the pressure off and enjoy what I’m doing here, more than ever before.

     

    Q: (Kevin Lyttle – Austin American Statesman) Carlos, I wanted to ask you, your thoughts on COTA as a race track, and also on Austin as a Formula One city.

    CS: I’m actually particularly excited to make the debut with the Renault car in a circuit like Austin because you have every single kind of corner that you enjoy in Formula One in this kind of track. You have a long straight and then a big braking zone, you have a lot of long high-speed corners, high-speed changes of direction, medium-speed, high-speed. Because of that, I think it’s a great circuit for me to get to know the car in all these areas. Apart from that it’s one of my favourite grands prix of the season in the end. You know you have great vibes surrounding the whole grand prix, with the concert, with the fans here are particularly special and I’m going to enjoy the weekend because of that.

     

    Q: (Rebecca Clancy – The Times) To Lewis, two things to clarify. There was a bit of a smile then, you said winning is the most important thing and you know what I mean. I’m not entirely sure I understood the end of your answer to that question. If you could just explain what you mean. And, forgive me if I’m reading too much into this but you said winning is the most important thing, and when we spoke in Malaysia you said about taking a knee, it wasn’t your anthem, there was plenty to consider. So would you therefore consider maybe staging a protest during your own anthem if you do win?

    LH: Like I said, I wasn’t even looking far away into it. I’ve not given it that much thought. And when I said ‘you know what I mean’, it wasn’t to everyone, it was to the gentleman at the front here. Yeah. As I said, I’m here to win. That’s my focus. I don’t really plan on allowing all the BS that’s surrounding the topic pull me down in my strive to winning this world title. I’ve worked hard to be where I am today and whilst I do have opinions and feelings towards the whole situation, as I’ve said, at the moment, no plans on doing anything.

     

    Q: (Mariana Jiménez – Récord) Lewis, you’ve said that you don’t have the title in your head right now but wouldn’t it be nice to wait until Mexico and get your first title there in front of the crowd?

    LH: I’m looking forward to going to Mexico, as I always do every year, I have a lot of support out there, I have a lot of love for Mexicans and… yeah… it’s just an awesome event to anyway, so to go there again, particularly after the last couple of years. I think every year it seems to grow in its attendance. I guess the organisers learn so much about how the event goes and improve it for the following year. Winning the World Championship is obviously the goal and of course I think about it every day. I think my drive naturally is to winning that World Championship so every bit of my energy goes towards that mission. Honestly, wherever it happens, I don’t mind if it happens in Mexico, I don’t mind if it happens here, I don’t mind if it happens in Abu Dhabi, as long as it happens. But definitely Mexicans know how to celebrate so, if it does happen there, hopefully I’ll get one of the sombreros and be in a party.

     

    Q: (Simon Lazenby – Sky Sports) Lewis, if you’re to win this championship, would you say Ferrari have blown it. They’ve handed it to you on a plate.

    LH: If I was to win this Championship I think I would say that I’ve earned it.

     

    Q: (Phil Duncan – PA) Another question for Lewis. You’re going to be the only British driver on the grid this weekend, which is the first time in your career. I was just wondering what you thought about that, the state of play in motor racing in Britain and whether you’re quite surprised you’re the only guy racing from Britain this weekend?

    LH: I don’t know how it is for the other drivers here but when you arrive you don’t think I’m here surrounded by members of… from where I’m from. So it makes no difference to me. I still work to raise the flag, and you do it as an individual, not as a team with other racing drivers, so yeah, that’s how it is.

     

    Q: (Jim Vertuno – AP) Brendon, there’s been a lot of expectation, speculation, that you were heading to Indy Car next year. Does this weekend change your plans there? What’s your future look like.

    BH: Nothing’s been confirmed for me for next year, so yeah, like I said before, I haven’t asked too many questions and have just been focussed on trying to do the best I can this weekend because I’ve got a fair amount on my plate to figure out and do a good job. So, I’m trying not to think further forward. But yeah, I was looking at Indy Car and I still am. Nothing confirmed for next season yet.

  • F1 2017: United States Gp Preview – Can Ferrari Bounce Back In Texas?

    F1 2017: United States Gp Preview – Can Ferrari Bounce Back In Texas?

    Most people would hold the opinion that the fight for the 2017 world championship is all but over. And you’d be hard pressed to make a legitimate argument against this opinion given that Hamilton holds a mammoth 59 point lead going into the United States grand prix.

    It’s as good a time as any then at this weekend’s US grand prix for Sebastian Vettel and Ferrari to start cutting Hamilton’s lead. BU they need to understand and overcome their reliability woes to do that. The galling thing for Ferrari over the last few races would have been that they had the pace to win, with the possible exception of Japan, but failed to even reach the chequered flag. Some suggestions are that quality control at the Maranello factory hasn’t been up to scratch and its been painfully illustrated on track. What it is though is further evidence of how much Ferrari have flirted with the edge in the design of their 2017 car and their bid to win the title. Its evident that they’ve pushed the margins too far and have, arguably, lost the likely chance of being champions in 2017.

    The question is really if Ferrari can recover. Instead, it is can they recover in time? It would be tough to find much support for the idea that Ferrari and Vettel could still walk away with the title. Still, however unlikely it seems it is never impossible especially in a sport as unpredictable as Formula 1. The silver lining in Vettel’s woes, however small it might be, is that he’ll have fresher power unit components in the bank than Hamilton which could allow him to push harder on Sunday afternoons, granted he gets the opportunity to do so.

    Lewis Hamilton - Italian Grand Prix pole positionFor Hamilton the equation is a simple one. Keep racking up the points with race finished, which will invariably not be outside the top three and it’ll be enough to make him a four time champ perhaps even before the end of the season. If Hamilton were to win around the Circuit of the Americas this weekend and Vettel finishes fifth or lower he would be champion.

    What are Hamilton’s chances of taking victory in Texas this weekend? Barring any sort of unreliability for anyone, it should be a good fight between Merc and Ferrari with the latter probably holding an edge on Sunday. The first important factor is that the ultra- and supersoft combination of tyre compounds are in offing this weekend. Traditionally, Ferrari has been the stronger on this combination. What’s more, it’s also expected to be slightly warmer in Texas than in Japan, which plays to Ferrari’s strength as Merc’s problem of maintaining the correct core tyre temperature, continues to be an issue for them.

    The layout too of the Herman Tilke designed track is more suitable to Ferrari and their aerodynamic proficiency. The first sector is dominated by a fast and flowing Esses section which has characteristics of both Silverstone’s iconic Maggots-Becketts complex and the first sector of Japan’s Suzuka circuit. In general, the five and a half kilometer circuit is dominated by medium to high-speed corners thatreward a good aero package. Added to this are a few hairpins, which will encourage and provide overtaking opportunities.

    Vettel - Final Practice, Chinese GPWhile most of the attention is focused at the front of the grid there are a few changes in the offing further down. Carlos Sainz bid farewell to the Toro Rosso team in Japan and will this weekend race as a fully-fledged Renault works driver. It means that Daniil Kvyat returns to the Toro Rosso fold. However, he will not be alongside Pierre Gasly who will instead be looking to win the Super Formula title this weekend. In his place will be 27 year old Kiwi and WEC superstar Brendon Hartley.

    Given their horrendous run in the last three rounds there is little expectation of Ferrari. However, the pressure on the team to deliver is enormous and could prove the catalyst for Vettel to simply throw caution to wind in Texas.

  • 2017 Japanese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2017 Japanese Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Takuma Sato)

     

    Lewis, a sensational win, congratulations. How do you feel today? 

    Lewis HAMILTON: Wow, you got some bling! Where’s this from?

    Yeah, look at this. It’s a 500 winner’s ring.

    LH: I love that! I need that ring! Hi, everyone. We’ve had such a great crowd here this weekend. In Japan they always look after us so well here, so very, very grateful for that, and the support has been immense. So, it’s great to have a beautiful day here, it’s probably the first time I’ve really seen the sea from here. The track was fantastic; the team did an incredible job. Max drove an outstanding race and honestly it wasn’t an easy one for us at all.

    You had a sensational lap, breaking the track record yesterday, but it didn’t look like you had an easy afternoon today. At one stage Max was coming on a charge. How did you manage that, were you just calm, were you just controlling the situation?

    LH: Yeah, I mean, today… the Red Bulls just seem to be rapid in race trim. Obviously we’re quick in qualifying trim. But still I was able to just hold him behind. But it definitely got very close a couple of times, particularly at the end with the VSC and then when we restarted the tyres were cold, I had a bit of traffic, so he caught right up, so it was very, very close.

    Well done, congratulations. Max, congratulations, a fantastic charge. Obviously [last weekend] in Malaysia you had a sensational win and look at your fans here in Suzuka, you’re charging almost to a win. How do you feel today?

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, it was a great day again. I think Suzuka is great to me. I really love the track, already last year. I think the pace today was really promising. The first stint on the supersoft I was struggling a bit with the left front, but as soon as we switched to the soft tyre it was actually very competitive and I was always with Lewis and especially in the last few laps I think we had great pace. It’s just really hard to pass. The last two or three laps I gave it my all to try to try to close the gap. But we had a really good day again and the car is definitely improving race by race and I’m really happy about that.

    Fantastic Max, congratulations again. Daniel, you look a happy boy. Suzuka fans, says hello them maybe?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, this is my first podium here. My objective this weekend was get a Suzuka podium and I have it and it feels great, so arigato.

    You mentioned that this is your first podium at Suzuka. Obviously this is a track you love and this is your ninth podium of the season. You’re looking strong. At the end you had a charge from the other guys, so how did you manage in the last few laps?

    DR: Yeah, it’s a circuit I’ve always enjoyed and now with this year’s cars it’s a lot of fun. You know, the race, after the start it started to spread out and it wasn’t that exciting from my point of view but then I had Valtteri coming at the end so actually to have a bit of pressure at the end made it more exciting. It was good fun…

    Excellent, fantastic, two Red Bull guys [on the podium]. Lewis…

    LH: Can I try this ring? Can I just see if it’s worth me going and doing [the Indianapolis 500] one day. Can I try it?

    Of course, anything for you. Lewis Hamilton with an Indy 500 winner’s ring!

    LH: It’s pretty good. Congratulations. I was about to run!

    The championship: you now have a massive 59-point lead. Obviously it was a little bit fortunate for you and a bit unfortunate for the red cars but there are four races to go, so what’s the strategy, how do you feel about it?

    LH: Yeah, honestly, I could only have dreamed of having this kind of gap. Ferrari have put on such a great challenge all year long. All I can really say is that I have to put it down to my team. They’ve done a phenomenal job, reliability has really been on point. They are just so meticulous and that’s really why we have the reliability we have and the result we have been having. So a big thank you to the guys. I think a lot of them have already gone back to start packing up. But I owe it to everyone here and back at the factory and again the support that we get, it really does help lift us, so a big thank you to everyone.

    Q: Well Lewis, an emphatic victory in reality. Perhaps you could talk us through it in chronological order. Let’s start with the start, who made the better getaway, yourself or Sebastian – and when did you realise he had a problem?

    LH: The start was OK. It didn’t feel initially the greatest but I think the initial getaway was not spectacular, there was a bit of wheel spin but then from then on, had a good start but I guess everyone around me, or at least Sebastian, had the same kind of thing. So, he slotted in behind me. Then it was pretty much under control from there, and then I saw that Max had done a big lunge into Turn 11, in my mirrors, so I just saw them drop back a step and really from then I was just trying to manage the pace, manage the tyres. It was a long way to go, the hottest the track had been all weekend – so it was really crucial, knowing that particularly the Ferraris and also the Red Bulls are very, very quick in the race, it was important in those moments that I looked after the tyres the best.

    Q: Was a two-stop ever a reality or was it always a one-stop as far as you were concerned?

    LH: A one-stop was the way. There was no way we could make a two-stop work, and knowing the others would be two-stop, just missing a stop makes a big difference – but I think it was definitely on the limit with tyre life and tyre wear. Yeah, these guys seem to have a bigger wing: slower on the straights but much, much quicker, it seems, through the first two sectors, and particularly if he’s right with me, he’s able to follow. When I was with someone I was not able to follow. So, I guess under-winged for the mid sector and fine down the straight. Then it just got a little bit close towards the end. I had a comfortable gap going into the pit-stop and then I think Max did the undercut thing and gained a bit of time. Then my out-lap, I took it easy, just trying to look after the tyres again, so he closed up to 1.5 seconds and then after that I pulled it back out to two and a half or three seconds or something like that, so I was just controlling the pace but towards the end the VSC lost a lot of temperature in the tyres and waking them up was not so easy. Then I got traffic, I was stuck behind Fernando and I think it was Massa, at the time and I was just losing so much time. His car was so big in my mirrors. I was thinking ‘Jeez, this is very, very close’ with a couple of laps to go – but once I got by just managed to keep it together. So yeah, it was not an easy walk in the park today. It was very much one that I had to work very hard for. Great race by Max and enjoying racing with him.

    And a 59 point lead in the World Championship now. Just one hundred on the table. One and a half hands on that championship trophy – how are you feeling about it?

    LH: I think it’s kind of unbelievable really, to think that we are where we are. I was excited actually to have a good race with Sebastian here, as I was in the last race – but he’s obviously been incredibly unfortunate. In the world today, in Formula One it is a lot about reliability, it is about the team’s whole performance, not just speed on the track, and I think the team has shown, through and through for many years now that we have a very, very solid platform. The guys do such a phenomenal job with how they build the car, in terms of reliability. Mercedes are the real leaders in that area and so I really owe it to everyone back at the factory for providing me with a car that I can utilise, and use my abilities in. So, big thank you to everyone back at the factory. There’s still a long way to go. One hundred points is a lot of points. Anything can happen in life. I’ve just got to try and keep my head down and hopefully continue to perform like this – but I feel very, very fortunate and really blessed and enjoying the experience.

    Q: Max, coming on to you. We were getting excited at the end there. Was the win really on? What were you thinking in the car?

    MV: difficult to say. I could see Lewis was managing his tyres and of course, with the traffic it just seems like it was a bit more difficult for him to follow other cars, compared to me. So I closed up – but also when you are really close you start to lose a lot of downforce, so I couldn’t really attack him – but at least I tried. Before that, the start for me was very crucial. From there on I could basically do my own race. Once I got past Seb in the Hairpin I quickly realised that he had an issue, so that was good for me, of course, and yeah, the first stint, I think it was alright. I think Lewis was just a little bit faster and then after the pitstop we had great balance on the soft tyres and yeah, I just managed to keep it around 2.5s-3s. I didn’t want to close-up more because then you destroy the front tyres. In case you maybe needed them at the end. So, yeah, I think the car lately in the race has been really competitive. I think like Lewis said, we have a bit more wing, so we are quite competitive through the corners. Of course, then on the straight we have an even bigger deficit than normal but it seems to work for us in the race so far, so yeah, of course happy to be here on the podium again. It seems like Suzuka is pretty good to me.

    Q: And concerns about that front-left, you mentioned.

    MV: Well, it was all on the limit I guess – but for many people.

    Q: Daniel, your first podium here at Suzuka. You had your mirrors full of Valtteri Bottas at the end there, kept it exciting at least.

    DR: Yes, exactly. The race was pretty lonely after I lost out on the start. And then yeah, lost touch. Little bit like last week, lost touch of Max and Lewis and then it was just trying to do my pace. It was a bit lonely and then yeah, actually Valtteri coming at the end actually made it a bit more exciting for me. Made me feel pushed until the end basically. Kept it open. For the rest, I think there were parts of the race where our pace was pretty good but I think once the start is done here it’s very difficult to overtake. You need a pretty big speed advantage. Front left, yeah, you could see it was wearing and getting a few blisters but yeah, the race itself, not very exciting but for sure I’m happy to be on the podium here. I said from the start of the weekend I wanted my first Suzuka podium and, yeah, I got it.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Question for Max. You’re on a charge in the last five laps and you came across the battle with Alonso and Massa. How did that affect you? Alonso cut right in front of you as Lewis went by him and you seemed to drop back a bit. Was that basically the defining moment that stopped your charge?

    MV: Yeah, didn’t help – but for me the last lap was more with Massa, but at the end of the day I think I wouldn’t have passed Lewis anyway because it’s really hard once he’s in free air. It was more like when Lewis was getting held up then I could close up and then maybe you can do something but once he got past, even when I got held up, y’know, it’s done. It’s of course not ideal but it wouldn’t have made a difference.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Max and Daniel, you swapped positions at the start, could you just talk us through how that first little bit went?

    DR: I saw a little bit of a replay now at the back but honestly, I couldn’t see… I mean the cars this year, they’ve got more of a blind spot basically, so after the start – I knew my start wasn’t that good and I was expecting to see Max but I didn’t see him for a while so thought maybe his start was also not good so I thought I would cover the inside but I wanted to leave some room because he could be there and then as we got to the apex, I saw he was there. I don’t think I could really have done anything else. I guess if I came across straightaway, he was there the whole time I imagine. Yeah, I think it was just the jump off the line that wasn’t that great. Then I was on the outside and I didn’t get a good drive off turn two being hung out on the outside and that’s where I think Ocon got the better exit. I think it just all the start with the initial launch, we stuffed it there. So I’ll look into it, see if it was something I could have done better

    MV: I think I had quite a good start and like Daniel said, it’s really difficult to see in the mirrors but luckily we all had enough space afterwards so that was all good.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – Volkskrant) Lewis, you said you enjoyed fighting with Max at the front. It’s the second consecutive race now that that’s happening. Can you tell us a bit more about that; how was it to fight against him?

    LH: Well, we didn’t really have a massive fight as such on the track but we all know how quick Max is, he’s doing a great job, very consistent. Yeah, the last race he was just too quick. I think today he was quicker – maybe just a little bit quicker – but I think I was able to match the times we were doing at the time. Yeah, we’re quicker in qualifying but they are at least within a tenth or so of us in the race. Today was I was kind of like – he won the last race, I’m not letting you have this one. It was really just about not making mistakes. I was driving down the back straight at one point and I’m thinking ‘Jeez, the guy behind me is so much younger than me, I’ve got make sure I kind of man up and show my age and make sure that I stay ahead. Show that I’m actually still very young at heart.’ That was kind of my thought process for you behind. I was kind of like I’m not letting…

    MV: I was thinking ‘this guy’s so old in front of me.’

    LH: Yeah, I’m not letting this little… that was the kind of thought I was having. No, I’m enjoying being in an era with such great young talent coming through. He’ll be here far beyond after I stop. But until then, I will try and not give him too many poles or too many wins.

    Q: (Luigi Perna – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Lewis, you now have a huge advantage over Sebastian Vettel. Will you change your approach in the next races or will you go to win anyway?

    LH: To be honest, there’s not really any need for me to change the approach. The points are still what you go out there to achieve but also you try and look after your car. I just don’t think there’s any need to make any changes. I’m not really particularly taking crazy risks in order to be in the position I’m in. So yeah, I think we’re just going to try and continue to do what we’re doing. Of course, we want to try and look after the car and the engine but I’m already doing that throughout the races so there’s not really much more I can do and I think if sometimes you come off the gas a little bit you actually cause yourself more trouble than you need.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Lewis, reliability is everything this year. On your cooldown lap you were talking to the engineers, speaking about vibrations. Is there anything possibly wrong with the engine or anything that might run over to Austin that needs changing?

    LH: I don’t think there’s… I don’t honestly think there’s any wrong with the engine. I just felt a couple of things so I just… you just point out things that you might forget to tell them after this next meeting. You make lots of different switch changes and the turbos make strange noises and different vibrations come in, so I’m hoping there’s nothing. I don’t think there is anything, I think it was just low… shortshifting which the engine doesn’t like so much. So I think that was it.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportwereld) Max, again a good result; what about the confidence in the car? Is the bad luck over now do you think?

    MV: Confidence was always there, so now I’m finally having luck so that’s good.

  • 2017 Japanese GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Japanese GP: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Valtteri BOTTAS (Mercedes)

    3 – Sebastian VETTEL (Ferrari)

    TRACK INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Jenson Button and David Coulthard)

    JB: Lewis this is your first time qualifying on pole in Suzuka. Absolutely immense, great job buddy, but it’s not just that, you have just shattered the qualifying lap record of Felipe Massa, set back in 2006 by 1.7 seconds. How does it feel?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Incredible. Firstly, look at this crowd – we have such a great crowd. It’s been a really good day and every lap was fantastic. You were rapid here, Nico was rapid here, I never really got a great balance in the past and I never did great in qualifying, so to finally get the balance behind me, with the great work of my engineers, and the great timing from all the mechanics, I finally got on track and did the time. And the car is crazy here, I wish you could feel it, man!

    JB: Yeah, watching you through the Esses, it looks unbelievable, the changes of direction. But from the word go in qualifying it was there.

    LH: Yeah, it’s my first time. I’m running out of opportunities to get this pole, so I was like “I’ve got to make sure I make it stick today”. Valtteri did a great job. Obviously he is going to have the penalty at the start but still he has a great opportunity in the race to get up there with us.

    JB: Let’s go and speak to Valtteri. Good job buddy. We had breakfast, sort of, together this morning and obviously it’s not been the easiest weekend for you, but pretty awesome to come away with P2.

    KR: Yeah, it’s been a really difficult weekend and obviously went off this morning. The guys did a great job getting the car back together. My driving was really getting better through the qualifying. I think there was still something to be found. But P1 and P2 at this point, but obviously with the gearbox penalty I’m starting seventh.

    JB: Yeah, it’s not easy as we know starting further back, but the car looks immense around here and you, as you said, have done a fantastic job today. But watching from the outside, watching the cars through here it’s the only time I really, really miss driving these beasts.

    VB: I tell you, you are missing a lot!

    JB: I know, good job buddy. Sebastian, how are you doing?

    Sebastian VETTEL: Fine.

    JB: These two were just unbelievably quick today, especially Lewis. He’s definitely sorted out his qualifying around Suzuka. P3 but obviously you’re starting the race from second. We all know that’s not a bad position to start here. How are you feeling, buddy?

    SV: Ah well, I mean qualifying has been quite good to be honest. I’m reasonably happy. I tried everything on the last run. I know I had to take a bit more risk, but it didn’t work, I ran out of track at the exit of the Esses. But I knew that if Valtteri got past, we would still be on the front row. I would have loved to have been a bit quicker, but quite amazing with the new cars around here. I love the track and it’s been a very special day. Thanks for the support, there are a lot of Ferrari fans, so arigato.

    JB: And as we know, Turn 1, you never know. Starting on the front row there is always the possibility of making it stick at Turn 1, so have a good one buddy, good job. Lewis, do you want to jump in here DC?

    DC: Lewis, that was spectacular to watch. Standing in the commentary box there were moments when I couldn’t believe how fast that car was going through the corners. Big congratulations, it sets you up perfectly for tomorrow, looking forward to the race?

    LH: Yeah, it’s going to be a different view here. I’ve never really had this view here, you know what it’s like. We’ve worked hard for the car to hopefully work well in the race. Those Esses really kill the tyres, so I’m hoping we’re in a good position for that. Naturally the Ferraris will be rapid, as they always are, but I plan to keep them behind.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Well Lewis, you obliterated the lap record. Every lap you did during that session was faster than the one before. It looked very smooth from where we were sitting. Talk us through the session and how good was that last lap?

    LH: It definitely was a fantastic session. I don’t know if people watching realise, but how your team time everything in terms of what time you go out, positioning, the preparation with the mechanics – all that stuff has to work perfectly. The team were just so on form, as they always are, but that worked perfectly and enabled me to get out in the right time and in the right space and deliver the laps, so hugely grateful to everyone for all their hard work. And the laps: yeah, very much on it. Didn’t make one mistake each lap, just got better and better. It’s really about building a foundation, which you do in Q1, and then building upon it lap after lap and hopefully you don’t have any mistakes. It was just every single lap apart from the last lap, which was up, but I think it was Q3 run one, which was the lap. Just incredible to come here with this car. This track has always been one of the greatest, if not the greatest circuits, and with this car it’s just mind blowing. I wish you could feel what we feel. It’s always been one of the craziest rollercoaster rides but with the downforce we have now – I think it’s three seconds faster than we’ve been before – it’s insane the speeds, this car is throwing us around inside. But the way you are able to throw the car around is like the craziest rollercoaster ride, which I love. So I hope the cars continue to get better, as they have this year. It’s incredible for me…. Ten years or whatever it is, my first pole position here. So tenth time lucky, so I’m grateful for that.

    Well, it was a great qualifying performance. I think a lot of people will be wondering what’s the race pace going to be like, particularly after what happened in Malaysia last weekend. Are you confident you’ve got that as well?

    LH: Well, we got some running in P1 and P3. P1 felt better than P3. The car is a lot different this weekend and a lot more enjoyable to drive. Last weekend was a bit of a disaster but we still got pole, which was unusual. Generally, I believe, we take step a bit slower when we get to the races, whereas the Ferraris do the opposite. I think that’s really the philosophy of how our cars are designed, difference-wise. I think in the race we’re going to be OK. But for sure the Ferraris were very, very quick in the last race so it will be interesting to see the pace they have. Kimi did a decent run, as well as Sebastian, today. We’ll see. We’ve put ourselves in the best fighting position and obviously it’s me and Sebastian on the front row – I wouldn’t want it any other way.

    Q: Valtteri, coming to you, it’s been a topsy-turvy kind of day for you, that accident in final practice and then pulling it all together and getting that lap together at the end. Talk us through how difficult it was to claw it back from the low of final practice.

    VB: Well, first of all I want to say well done to Lewis again for the pole. And I really want to thank the team. Like Lewis said, they’ve done a great job through the qualifying. We’re always the right time on the track and in perfect gaps. Just everything went very smoothly so that allowed also me to just really focus on the driving itself. With the incident, I had in practice three, there was some extra work for the guys. They did really well to get the car together. It worked perfectly, so thanks for that. It’s been a tricky weekend, not quite so clean so far, and going slightly over a kerb in practice three can make a massive difference. Had to reset, go for it. I used the soft tyre in quali two, so that mixed my rhythm slightly, I think but could get some improvements step by step. The lap in the end, it was not perfect but not that far off.

    Q: Sebastian, talk us through your session. Third fastest. You’re going to be, as we’ve heard, on the front row of the grid tomorrow, due to that penalty for Valtteri but first of all, qualifying, how was it for you?

    SV: Pretty good, I’m pretty happy, to be honest, the car balance was getting better and better. Obviously, we were lacking a bit of performance but all in all I think it was a positive day. I think the car should be a bit better in the race. The last run in Q3, I tried a little bit more than there maybe was but I obviously knew the gap behind was quite big and Valtteri wasn’t really a threat because he gets the penalty tomorrow. So, took a bit more risk, didn’t work but still happy with third and then a front row for tomorrow. We’ll see. I think our starts lately have been quite good. We’ll see what we can do.

    Q: And are you confident you’ll have the legs of the Mercedes in race conditions?

    SV: I don’t know which sort of pace they will have. Obviously, you always know what you are doing but they have been a bit up and down: last week they weren’t very quick; this weekend they seem to be back to normal, so I think so far this year has been very close. I expect it to be very close tomorrow. For us, I think normally we are a bit stronger in the race compared to quali, so that’s where I guess we get together and see what we can do, at the start and then during the race.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, last week you struggled and nobody in the team really seemed to have an explanation for it. This weekend, only seven days later, you are flying. Do you know why?

    LH: I think we have an idea. I think there’s a lot of analysis that’s gone in to understanding it so I think we do understand, yes. It’s not something we can particularly rapidly change, but we’re in a cooler climate here, so that’s definitely one thing that adds to it.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) Question for Lewis. Your first pole at Suzuka, you’ve never really hooked it up here, you’ve had competitive cars in the past – what’s so different this year? You seem to be absolutely blinding through every corner.

    LH: It’s interesting because every single time I’ve struggled here. Struggled with finding the right balance, generally not always… often not starting on the right foot and then just struggling where to find the placement. Sometimes I’ve started on the right foot and led the car in completely the wrong direction. Yeah, so it’s always been up and down. This is the first time – and I would say definitely the first car that I’ve really felt that it’s been underneath me all weekend. Small tweaks here and there but in the right direction. So, I think fundamentally a better job done globally. Particularly with my engineers. My engineer understanding what I need from the car and vice versa: what I need from my engineers and the car. It’s worked out better this time. My knowledge of the car is better than it’s been before – which has enabled me then to go out and do the job, so I’m really… it’s really, really a confidence builder for us as a group, me and my engineers and mechanics. I don’t mind that it’s taken that long. I hope that I can capitalise on today’s great work.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Valtteri, how important was it for you to beat Kimi as you seemed to be on the same tactic as him?

    VB: Yeah, of course it is good to start ahead. I think he also got on the softs in Q2 so we are mostly likely going to be on a similar strategy for the race, so I’ve definitely got the upper hand in the race in that way but we’ll need to see how their race pace is and again it’s going to be a long race but it’s just a real shame… it would have been better to start one and two as a team, that would have been nice but that is what it is.

    Q: (Mark Mann-Bryans – Press Association) Lewis, your car in the last few months has been labelled capricious, a diva – I believe you even said on Thursday it’s a bit stubborn. But is it days like today when she makes it up to you?

    LH: Definitely, definitely. It’s been a great car in qualifying this year particularly, and qualifying for me is probably the most enjoyable part of the weekend, so being able to put together laps like today is the one you wait for, all weekend: Q3, round one and two are really what motorsport is all about. It’s about ultimate performance from myself but also from the car. So it is definitely great when she comes together on days like this which is important. We were perhaps on the back foot here, perhaps won’t be as great a position to be in but let’s hope that she’s not stubborn tomorrow.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Sebastian, how important would it be for your championship campaign to have a normal qualifying for both of the Ferraris?

    SV: Well, I don’t know. Obviously there was a small issue this morning that lead into the problem with Kimi’s car, certainly not ideal but it is what it is. I think the car is quick so even if… I think last weekend showed that even if you – well, not necessarily qualify out of position – but if you start out of position then you can still get back. I’m sure that he can have a strong race from where he starts.

    Q: (Graham Harris – Motorsport Monday) To all three of you: with missing FP2 basically yesterday and this morning’s practice session having two reds, did this affect any of your programmes, leading up to qualifying and do you feel you have enough laps in and also the changing characteristics of the circuit? FP1 was essentially dry and the rest were wet or damp. How did this affect your qualifying going into qualifying?

    VB: Yeah, definitely you would always prefer to do more laps, there’s always more track time, possibilities to learn more and make the car better and fine-tune your driving, get the confidence, so definitely for me, missing practice two and then half of the practice three wasn’t ideal. Then you need to make the most out of the limited time you have and try and improve during the qualifying.

    LH: Fortunately, it didn’t get in the way of it really. I got a bit of a run in in P3 in the rain. If anything, that might have been a benefit to me , because if I’d had P2 in the dry maybe I wouldn’t be on pole, because we would push the car to make changes and whatever and wouldn’t have ended up where we were so pretty grateful for the rain that came. Often when you miss a session, it does definitely put you a little bit further down the ladder from where you potentially could be but I think I managed to still reach there so I do think it was potentially a benefit for me, missing P2.

    SV: Don’t think much impact. I think we got enough laps for performance runs. Obviously the long run preparation wasn’t as usual but by the end of the season you know the car, you know the tyres so it’s not a big deal. I think the biggest change for tomorrow will be the conditions. I think there should be sunshine which makes everything a bit hotter, so let’s see how that goes.

  • 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    2017 Malaysia Grand Prix: Post Race Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

    2 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

     3 – Daniel RICCIARDO (Red Bull Racing)

     

    PODIUM INTERVIEWS

    (Conducted by Mark Webber)

    Max, what a special day, buddy. Second victory; yesterday you turned 20. The previous win was not a gift, but this was… you had to work so hard for it, but what were the main points and how did you get the job done today.

    Max VERSTAPPEN: I think in the beginning, straight away the car felt good and I saw Lewis struggling a bit with traction and he was clipping a bit more than me, so I used my battery as much as I could and of course he has more to lose than me in the championship so I went for it in Turn 1 and from there I could my own race. The car was unbelievable. I had pace. If I needed to speed up I sped up. Yeah, it’s amazing. It’s a very tough race but of course incredible to win.

    I saw the neck a little bit. How does it feel at the end there – a little bit tight?

    MV: Of course. You get a bit tired. I thought maybe let’s rest a bit, maybe I need it in the end of the race.

    Incredible victory. Lewis, no one has stood on this podium more than you. Six times up on this podium, you have such a great affinity with Malaysia. It’s the last time we’re going to race here, a 34-point lead now in the championship. This was a very important second place, right?

    LH: Yeah, absolutely. A big congratulations to Max and a happy birthday. He did a fantastic job today. And a big thank you to all the crowd here. This is the biggest crowd we’ve ever had here in Malaysia. We needed that. It’s been such a great for us for so many years, we appreciate you guys having us and all the support you give us. So, thank you so much. The race was a tough one. Obviously they just had the upper hand on us today. But we love driving this track. It is the most difficult circuit; you are the most depleted afterwards and that’s a great thing.

    Well done buddy. Obviously, Sebastian did get back into fourth place but championship-wise, where’s your head at now and how do you go to bed tonight?

    LH: I feel good, but I think we have some work to do with the car. Obviously we didn’t have the pace today, this weekend, so there’s still work to do, there are still races ahead and there are some we can for sure win but we just have to keep pushing.

    Well done. Over to Danny Ric – well done buddy. Fantastic podium. It was a pretty hot afternoon for you; pretty boring in a ways, but that’s sometimes how those races go. But when Sebastian arrived you fought him off really well. So run us through the race and tactically how you had to deal with Sebastian at the end of it?

    Daniel RICCIARDO: Yeah, at the start it looked like Mercedes were struggling, so I was behind Bottas for a few laps. Obviously tried to get him as soon as possible, but he defended well. Seb came so quick at the end. I thought I was going to have a handful, but he only really had one strong attack and then we were able to pull away. I guess pretty lonely, but it was hot, it was physical, so nice to get a podium. Congrats to Max. Second win, he drove well all weekend, so good race for the team. Thanks to all the Aussies, appreciate it.

    Beautiful double podium for Red Bull, good to see you guys back on form. Max, your dad is down here and when the national anthem was going I think your father’s bottom lip was on the edge, I could see a bit of emotion from Jos the Boss. Run us through your emotions, what this means to get these victories at this level is just phenomenal…

    MV: You know, especially after the season I’ve had, I think this victory came at a very good time, so I was very happy when I crossed the line and together with my dad I got this far and of course I got the great help from Red Bull.

    Q: Max, you said yesterday, right here, that you would love to win a grand prix on merit. You fought-off Bottas at the start, you overtook Lewis, and you won by 12 seconds. Is that what you would call ‘on merit’.

    MV: Yeah, I think the whole race went well. Once I got past Lewis I could basically just focus on my pace and look after the tyres and when I needed to speed up I had the pace to do it. So, that was, of course, very pleasing. I think the first time I’ve had that in my career so far and I’ve won. So, to do something like that was, of course, great. The car had a great balance in the second sector and, yeah, I just had to stay very focussed, of course, because with the backmarkers you could easily lose a lot of lap time so you had to be focussed on that. Almost got taken out in Turn One when I passed two backmarkers but from there onwards, yeah, I could control everything, so of course very happy with that.

    And the detail on the overtake on Lewis.

    MV: I had a good run out of the last corner and then yeah, I opted to go for the inside. Of course I know that Lewis has more to lose because he’s fighting for the championship, so maybe I look a bit of extra risk because of it – but it was my only chance, I think, because that was one of the laps I could see he was clipping a bit more than I was, so I used the battery I had. Of course, very happy I got past.

    Q: Lewis, second place and extending championship lead. The risk/reward profile from your side when Max came through. What was going through your head?

    LH: yeah, I didn’t really know how close Max was and, yeah, I was having some problems with de-rates at the beginning of the race so, yeah, just struggling with battery power. I went to defend but didn’t really want to risk it, so I left enough room, didn’t completely close the door and be too aggressive. At the end of the day Max had more pace than me and it would have been a struggle anyway, even if he hadn’t got past at that point. Perhaps it would have happened somewhere else. It was going to be a real struggle but I did everything I could after that just to maintain position and, yeah, good to still get second.

    Q: It was a little bit reminiscent of Bahrain, the Mercedes seemed to struggle particularly on the supersoft tyre. Would that be accurate?

    LH: Yes. To be honest I struggled on both sets, a little bit less on the soft. But yeah, the car’s… the car’s good obviously in some places and in some others the issues that we have with the car are magnified, so we do have some big problems with it. It wasn’t… we struggled with pace, as you can see but still, it was good enough to get second. There’s still work to do to try and fix it but I think it’s a fundamental issue with this year’s car, so we’ve just got to try and work on improving it for next year.

    Q: Daniel, thrills at either end of the race for you. Obviously, the pass on Bottas early on and then the defence from Vettel at the end. Extremely robust defence, it must be said, into Turn One. Give us the detail on that, and obviously you had the time to think about him coming through, you were kept informed of his progress, so did you have a plan, or was it pure instinct.

    DR: The plan was to keep him behind. My engineer kept telling me he was catching me, and I like, ‘right… thanks… I know’, so I didn’t get to a point where I told him to…  yeah, I wasn’t giving much feedback on the radio so I think he got the picture but yeah, I defended a bit and I saw Seb was still coming, so I closed the door a bit later towards the apex, I don’t know how it looked from the outside. I don’t know if he was unhappy about it, or whatever, but it didn’t seem over-aggressive from my side. It didn’t feel like I did a really late move or anything, so from there I expected him to attack to the end but I was going to do all I could to keep him behind but I expected him to keep coming, keep coming and I guess maybe he killed the tyres trying to chase me and then getting close to me. And then, yeah, with Bottas, off the start I chose to go to the inside, obviously in the end he had a better run on the outside, so that was not the best line, I guess, from me. I had a couple of goes at him, he defended pretty well initially and then finally got around him – but by then Max and Lewis had obviously taken off. I think towards the end of that first stint, the end of the supersoft, I was keeping pretty good times on them, finally bringing some laptime back – but then they all pitted before and pulled away again, and on the soft I wouldn’t say I was as strong as probably the end of that first stint. It was, for the most part, a lonely race but yeah, obviously congrats to Max. He was strong all weekend. I think it’s our first double podium of the year so it’s a good result.

    Q: Finally, when the rules came out to make these cars a lot faster in 2017, this would have been the race that you’d have thought about and thought how tough it was going to be. Just a quick snapshot from each of you. How do you feel now? How hard was it?

    DR: Better that we’ve had some fluids. Yeah, it’s quick. Already last year it was probably the most physical race. This and Singapore. Singapore, we got given an easier time this year with the wet conditions. It made the race less physical because of the pace. So yeah, this I’d say was the toughest race and, yeah, you feel it. I think having a battle, having Seb catch me and keeping me on my toes, actually made it a bit easier.

    And Max, how do you feel?

    MV: Yeah, of course it was a very tough race but the whole week already I was not feeling too well, so that also doesn’t help in the toughest race of the season but luckily I managed to hold on so that was all good.

     

    QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

    Q: (Flavio Vanetti – Corriera della Sera) Lewis, you gained six more points on Sebastian; how do you rate the importance (of that)?

    LH: Of gaining six more points? How do I rate it? Any points are important, so I don’t really know how to answer that. It’s a step towards trying to win this World Championship so every point counts.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Max, was that a clear sign that the Red Bull can now be strong on any type of circuit which still follows in the calendar?

    MV: I hope so. I didn’t expect to win here and be faster than the Mercedes but I think the whole weekend we looked pretty decent. Of course in qualifying, I think it’s a bit more tricky for us to be in front of them but we know that in the race normally our car is a bit stronger and we can look after our tyres quite well, so hopefully that’s a benefit maybe for some upcoming races but we have to wait and see. Every single weekend you have to set up the car well. You can say, yeah, here we were really quick so now we should be quick on every track but you are never 100 percent sure.

    Q: (Dan Knutson – Auto Action and Speedsport) Lewis, you gained six points but Seb came from last to fourth; what concerns you about the Ferrari pace in the remaining races?

    LH: What concerns me? Yeah, when we went into the race we knew that they had something like eight tenths on us so it was no surprise. Going on towards the next races, I have no idea how it will work out but the others have generally picked up a bit more pace I would say than us. And as I said, circuits like this there are corners that really magnify the issues we have with the car, so that’s something which we struggled with here. Whether or not that will be the same at the next races we go to we will see.

    Q: (Heikku Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Max, congratulations. Did it make it any easier for you when Kimi was taken away before the start?

    MV: It’s always easier, yeah, it’s one competitor less. If you look at the performance of Sebastian, for sure they would have been really strong. It’s of course a bit of a gift in that way, that it’s one less competitor but we never know how quick he was in the race.

    Q : (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, you must be very happy because Friday you had a difficult car, just one hour on Saturday to test a new set-up. You were surprised by that as you said, and now in the race also, in spite of a difficult car, you finished second and your rival is in the back. If you can comment on that please?

    LH: Yeah, definitely, a much better weekend that we had anticipated after our Friday. Still, as I said, we’ve got a lot of work to do with this car so considering the issues we did have with the car, I think this is a good result. I think Valtteri obviously seemed to struggle a lot more and I was able to just pull a little bit more out of it, I guess, but these next races are going to be crucial in terms of finding out whether we can iron out some of the creases that we have with the car but yeah, who would have thought that the Ferraris would have had a problem? All we can do is try and capitalise as much on those. Naturally, I wanted to win the race and so Max did a fantastic job today, but obviously winning the race is still the goal so even if I get second it’s not that satisfying.

    Q : (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) And Max, you said that you enjoyed the car in the sector two here which is very similar to what we will find in Suzuka, no?

    MV: Yeah, but like I said before, it’s easy to say, yes now we will be good on every track. We just have to wait and see when we go to Suzuka. I think it’s a bit too early to say that we will be really competitive there. We were not too bad last year but we still have to find a good set-up.

    Q: (Arjan Schouten – AD Sportwereld) Max, could you compare this one to your first victory in Spain?

    MV: No, because there we definitely normally didn’t have the pace to win. Today we had and I had to really fight to overtake, and then look after the tyres so it was for me a bit different and it actually feels better.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Max, you got a podium in China and then I think twelve races until this one and then seven DNFs. How much of a relief is it that luck has finally turned your way, not that it was a lucky win but that luck has finally turned in your favour a bit?

    MV: Yeah, of course it’s been a dramatic season so far so of course I’m very happy then to win this race and hopefully from now onwards it will be OK. I’m not saying we’re going to win every race but at least score some good points. Up until now, it was really a season to forget.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volkskrant) Max, yesterday you said becoming World Champion in karting was the best victory you ever experienced in your career…

    MV: It still is.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volkskrant) It still is? This one doesn’t feel better?

    MV: No. Because it doesn’t feel like that.

  • 2017 Malaysia Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    2017 Malaysia Grand Prix: Post Qualifying Press Conference

    DRIVERS

    1 – Lewis HAMILTON (Mercedes)

    2 – Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN (Ferrari)

    3 – Max VERSTAPPEN (Red Bull Racing)

     

    TRACK INTERVIEWS (conducted by Johnny Herbert)

    Lewis, what a great result for you. You must be very happy. That looked like a pretty decent lap?

    Lewis HAMILTON: Firstly, look at this crowd. I know it’s our last grand prix here but this is the best crowd I’ve ever seen. Thank you so much for all the support. We had no idea how it was going to go today. I’m sorry for whatever happened to Sebastian, because obviously he was very, very quick through practice. But somehow we turned it round. The engineers did such a great job yesterday, the car felt great, for both Valtteri and I, and so it’s a real surprise to be up here with these guys, so I’m very, very grateful.

    Kimi come and join us. What a try that was! Happy with that? I’m sure you wanted just a little bit more. I would have thought you would have done one of the old karting moves – jumping up and down in the seat, leaning forward. Maybe you should do that next time. 

    Kimi RÄIKKÖNEN: Yeah, it’s OK, but obviously when you get that close it’s disappointing. I made the most out of it. Yes, there are always places you can improve, but you are never going to get it 100% perfect anywhere. You always find some things you can improve, but I must say the car has been behaving nicely all weekend and it’s been a pleasure so far. We’ll try to get further than 100 metres tomorrow, and let’s see what we can do.

    Tomorrow is going to be important, obviously you have been on the front row before but this is going to be an interesting little drive towards Turn One. Are you ready for this? This crowd is looking forward to a big race tomorrow, yeah?

    KR: Yeah, obviously it’s a long way, so if you make a good start you will benefit quite a bit from it. It’s a pretty tight first two corners and a lot usually happens. We’ll try to make sure the first two corners go well and go from there. I think we’re going to have a very good race car, so let’s see.

    Well here’s a man we’re going to get on – the birthday boy, that you got on very closely with in the last race. Hopefully that’s not going to be the case. Max, happy with that result? You seemed to get the best from the car. 

    Max VERSTAPPEN: Yeah, I think it’s good for us in qualifying to be in this position. I mean it’s always good to drive on this track, especially in qualifying – Turns 5 and 6 are flat out, so it’s a lot of fun. And also the crowd – it’s amazing how passionate they are. So on my birthday to be third here is perfect.

    LH: I thought you were 19?

    MV: Twenty now.

    LH: Twenty now! Does he look much younger than me?

    I’m sorry to say, yes. Lewis, tomorrow, the race is going to be so important. We know what happened the last time out, but this is a long run up to Turn 1, but you must be looking forward to it, because this is the perfect situation for you.

    LH: It is. Obviously we are going to have a tough battle with these guys. Particularly the Red Bulls had really great long-run pace yesterday, and today I think. I’m hoping our car has moved in the right direction for the race run but we’ll see tomorrow. But there is a long, long run down to Turn 1, so lots can happen. But exciting to see all these guys coming out tomorrow and hopefully [it will be] the biggest crowd we’ve ever had.

    You’re going to be after the perfect start, Kimi, Max, tomorrow you’re going to want to get in front of this guy, who is the man who is going to do that.

    MV: I don’t want to be sandwiched – that’s the only thing.

    Kimi?

    KR: I don’t want to be hit.

     

    PRESS CONFERENCE

    Lewis, fifth Malaysian pole position, four years in a row here, and becomes the first man in Formula One history to get into the 70s of pole positions. What a turnaround from yesterday, and even from this morning. Seven tenths of a second ahead of your team-mate suggest that was a moment of inspiration. Tell us about it.

    LH: We had such a difficult day yesterday; it was difficult to know where we stood. I didn’t sleep very well, just like all my engineers as well, because we didn’t know whether we would fix the issue or not. But today we arrived and the car was much better but still I think it looked like the Ferraris were a little bit ahead. We had some big calls to make going into qualifying and then those laps were, particularly the last one, the first Q3 lap, was very well put together, a very nice lap. I don’t really know where it came from, to be honest, so I’m a little bit surprised at myself. As I said, it’s a surprise to be up here. I’m very grateful. These guys have been driving exceptionally well all weekend. It’s always a special thing to be able to extract a little bit more out of the car than it’s particularly willing to go. That’s what I’ve always enjoyed, since my dad would say… my first go-kart was fifth-hand or something like that, and he’d say it was like a four-poster bed. Not that my car was a four-poster bed today but I was hoping I could extract a little bit more out of it.

    You acknowledged in Singapore that you had a slice of luck with what happened at the start, and a slice of luck with your main title rival Vettel starting from the back of the grid. You’ve got to capitalise on it, so will Valtteri have a part to play in it as Vettel comes through the field?

    LH: I haven’t really thought… I don’t know what happened to Sebastian. I mean, he would have been up there with us, he’d been driving well all weekend, very, very quick, between him and Kimi. Very unfortunate for him, but of course we just have to continue to focus on our job and try to maximise on every opportunity that we get collectively. Hopefully we are in a good position for tomorrow. Obviously we have put ourselves in the best position for tomorrow but we still have a tough race ahead of us, so we’ll just try and keep our heads down and hopefully those behind me and it will just unfold the way it unfolds.

    Q: Kimi, it equals your best qualifying performance here in Sepang: 0.045 of a second off pole position. A lot of weight on your shoulders obviously in qualifying from the Ferrari team with Vettel in trouble. You were on target, it seemed, until the final corner – tell us about it.

    KR: Well, I don’t know. Obviously, I only know how it was and I think overall, the whole weekend, it’s been pretty straightforward. The car’s been handling well. I think we were quite happy all day, also in qualifying but, y’know, you can always improve here and there. I don’t think you ever going to make an absolutely perfect lap and it’s a bit more painful when you get that close, for sure. There’s places that you improve a little bit and it’s just enough – but it wasn’t today. Obviously was a shame for the team, with Seb’s issue, whatever, not having him in the qualifying – but that’s how it goes sometimes. I think the car’s [inaudible] very well but to try to fix it and then obviously had some problem. It’s a shame for him. Sure he will be good tomorrow. I’m happy but I’d rather have qualified in first place but I think tomorrow is a long race, it’s going to be tough for tyres and I think we should have a very good car tomorrow. I have a good feeling about it.

    Q: Max, happy 20th birthday. Going well so far…

    MV: Thank you very much!

    …strong weekend thus far. I think it’s the 11th time now this season you’ve out-qualified Daniel, so once again very strong qualifying performance. Four-tenths off today in qualifying but do you feel with what you saw yesterday in the long runs, quite low degradation, the car looked quick, obviously, the faint possibility of rain as well, that there’s room for optimism in the race tomorrow.

    MV: Well, for sure, if it rains, then then I think we always have a good opportunity. I think in the dry today, I’m actually very happy that I’m here in third because this morning – afternoon, the last session – I was struggling a lot with the balance of the car. Actually, the whole weekend has been up and down in terms of happiness with the car but we managed to do a good qualifying again. Really happy with that, of course. The car, except maybe the final run in Q3, before that was really well balanced, so I can’t complain. I think we could have been a bit closer, definitely we couldn’t have beaten them today but for us, to be third here, on this track, is perfect. Also, in the long runs, it was all looking good. If it’s good enough, I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow. From my side, I want to have a good Sunday finally. Because every time on Saturday it’s always going well, but on Sunday I haven’t scored a lot of points.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Lewis, in the long runs yesterday you didn’t show good performance and today you have very good performance in one lap. Do you have an indication with this new setup for the race?

    LH: Yeah, in the P3 we did a long-ish short run, only five laps. I think the car was in a much better position but I think we were something like four- or five-tenths off the other guys. So we shall see tomorrow whether that is still the case – but I think we made some changes going into qualifying that should suit the car better for tomorrow, so I’m hopefully that we will be there or thereabouts.

    Q: (Jerome Pugmire – Associated Press) Question for Max, as you turn 20, you’re no longer a teen sensation so to speak. What is the highlights of your career. If you had to choose, for example, between Interlagos, coming through the rain and that victory on your debut, which would you choose?

    MV: It’s difficult. To be honest, I think my best memory is still from go-karting, when I won the World Championship, because you always dream of it, to achieve something like that, and especially… I worked really hard with my Dad, to achieve something like that, because he was my engine tuner, he was my mechanic. We have travelled the world together since I was four years old. I think I was 15 at the time. You win the World Championship in the highest category in go-karting. That was very emotional. Then the victory in Spain was also very emotional at the time – but I want to win a race on merit and not with luck. So that hasn’t happened yet, so I think still that victory in go-karting is more satisfying.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, in Monaco you won the pole with the same margin as you did lose it today. How big is the difference in your feeling compared to that Monaco?

    KR: It makes no difference to compare what happened in Monaco with here. I don’t really care what’s the time difference, or position today. It’s what happened. We came second, I’m pretty happy because things have been running pretty smoothly all weekend and I think we’re going to have a good car tomorrow, at least so far that’s how it’s been. You always look for more and for sure there’s always things to improve, to go a bit faster and that little bit would have been enough today.

    Q: (Ysef Harding – Xiro Xone News) Lewis, once again Beast-mode. You find a way to really turn it up when your back is against the wall like this, again we’re seeing this level that you can’t figure out where it’s coming from. What is it, the many fans out there that, the Union Jacks, all the Lewis Hamilton fans, team LH is out there, coming thousands of miles to watch you race at this last Malaysian Grand Prix?

    LH: Well one thing for sure, the support is… I mean, we’ve been coming here for ten years and it’s known not to have a very attendance here but the crowd already from Thursday was pretty awesome and today, every time you leave the garage, every time you come in, I can see all these flags opposite my garage. It’s the most… in all the ten years put together, today was more than all of those. Incredibly grateful for that. Of course, I get a lot of energy from that, and from special people I met, I met this young kid, Brandon, the other day who just was the highlight of the week, and then I guess always digging deep. I’m very, very grateful that the laps have come at the right time, throughout qualifying, because you know you approach it and you hope that you’re able to execute at the right time – but it’s not always… you’re never always on point but so far this weekend and particularly, obviously, just now, that lap, the one that really counts was the one I need and the one that I got. So it’s a combination of a lot of things, but my team worked so hard last night to really try to… I think they were here until 2am, trying to understand the car and make sure we made the right steps with real good analysis, so I’m grateful for all that hard work.

    Q: (Michael Schmidt – Auto Motor und Sport) Lewis, you took the old aero package today, your teammate the new one, was it your decision, was it a joint decision and why did you take the decision to go back to the old one?

    LH: How do you know that? Hmm? Did Niki tell you that? We came with an upgrade that was supposed to be better but we were unsure yesterday because we were so far off. We went back to one car trying one, the other car trying the other. Before qualifying I was thinking of going back to the new package because Valtteri’s and my times were very similar and Valtteri seemed really happy with it and so I didn’t want to carry a penalty going into qualifying. You want every little millisecond you can get but there wasn’t really enough time so we ended up staying with it and also it was kind of a risk, changing the car again for qualifying and maybe getting something wrong and so we just… that was really why we ended up staying with it but fortunately I’d done P3 with it so I was quite comfortable with where I was and it provided a stepping stone in terms of making the set-up change. Ultimately it was down, it is down in performance but fortunately it didn’t make a difference.

    Q: (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Lewis, did that experience of having a home Finnish sauna help you to beat this other Finnish guy because you seem to be sweating less than him?

    LH: Did you say the home Finnish sauna? I haven’t been in it for a long time. I used the sauna here but it’s not as good as a Finnish sauna. I used the one in KL. Kimi, do you still use a sauna? You do? It doesn’t strike me as a usual Finnish guy, Kimi, but for me, coming from England, this is a sauna here. It’s bloody roasting.

    Q: (Lennart Bloemhof – De Volksrant) Max, touching upon the extension of contracts for China and Singapore and the possibility of new races being added in the near future, how do you feel about a calendar with 24 races? I believe Fernando Alonso isn’t a fan of expanding the calendar and Lewis isn’t that fond of it as well, I heard.

    MV: I think 21 is more than enough. I think it’s already quite a lot.

    LH: Shit. Is it really 24? They’re talking about 24?

    MV: Yeah. Yeah, I think it’s quite a lot. So I may…

    LH: He’s young, he’s got…

    MV: Several family and friends. Racing is one part but you also have your private life, away from racing, but you don’t really see them a lot, so I think if you’re going to do 24, 25, it’s not only for the drivers but also the mechanics. I think it’s better to get a divorce straight away.

    Q: (Louis Dekker – NOS) Lewis, I guess we have got three top teams again after the start of the season where it was mainly Mercedes and Ferrari. Are you happy with more battles? Does it make it better?

    LH: Absolutely, absolutely. I think we need even more than that. Red Bull have really stepped it up, stepped up their game in the last… through the last race and coming here and it’s great to see them performing so well. We obviously want them to be even closer so it really mixes things up. I was hopeful they were going to be even quicker today but I don’t know what happened, whether they lost a little bit of pace or not. But yesterday they were looking fantastic but again, their long run pace in the race here is often very very good so without doubt tomorrow they will be on our tails, I would imagine. In the past they’ve always been great here and looking after their tyres and keeping the temperatures low. I think it’s great, I think it’s more exciting for the fans. Wouldn’t it be great if we had Williams back there and McLaren back there and then there would be a real race.

    Q: (Livio Oricchio – GloboEsporte.com) Kimi, your teammate is in the back, he’s fighting for the championship. You on the first row, do you think you can believe also the team can ask you to change the strategy in order to take maximum possible points from Lewis, keeping that in mind?

    KR: What do you  mean exactly, because as a team, we want to get maximum points out of any race with two cars and obviously for Seb we hope he’s going to make a good recovery but it’s not going to change my  race. We’re always going to try and make the fastest race and I don’t really know what else…

  • F12017: Malaysian Gp Preview – Must Win For Ferrari

    F12017: Malaysian Gp Preview – Must Win For Ferrari

    To finish first, first you must finish. These are likely the words that have been rolling around Sebastian Vettel’s mind following the start-line crash in Singapore, which now has him at a 28-point deficit to Lewis Hamilton.

    There’s little doubt that this weekend’s Malaysian grand prix is vital for Ferrari’s and Vettel’s championship aspirations. The Formula 1 paddock travels little more than 300 hundred kilometers to Sepang, just outside the city center of Kuala Lumpur, in Malaysia for this weekend’s 15th round of the 2017 season.

    The Malaysian circuit, famed for its hot and humid conditions, has been on the F1 calendar since 1999 and is making its final appearance in 2017. As, arguably, Herman Tilke’s most-liked circuit design the Sepang International circuit is one of the biggest technical challenges of the season. It’s combination of medium and high-speed corners and the ever-present long back- and start/finish straits means that somewhere drivers and teams will have to compromise on the car set-up.

    Some in the paddock will have you believe that the Mercedes will stroll to victory this weekend given that the Malaysian circuit suits the Silver Arrow to a tee. While the strengths of the Mercedes are likely to be highlighted by the more aero-dominant sector of the lap Ferrari are unlikely to simply be reduced to also-rans. Kimi Raikkonen believes that Ferrari can be in the mix for victory this weekend. “You [the media] assume that it’s difficult. We don’t,” said Raikkonen.

    “We go there [to Malaysia], it’s another race, another weekend, and we go there full of fight and we’ll do our best”. Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene echoed Raikkonen’s sentiments by saying that the battle is not over but has simply become more difficult.

    Sebastian Vettel - Italian Grand Prix qualifyingWhile the two main rivals in the 2017 championship dominate the headlines what then of Red Bull cheekily snatching the prize from both of them. The stats suggest that the Austrian team has indeed made significant progress since the start of the season. And while they’ll be snapping at the heels the top step of the podium, barring unreliability, crashes, or a sudden and opportune cloud-burst, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen are unlikely to have the raw pace to match Merc and Ferrari.

    As if to add more intrigue to the mix Ferrari and Mercedes have chosen different tyre strategies for this weekend too. With the medium, soft, and supersoft compounds available Mercedes has chosen to focus more on the yellow-walled soft tyre. With five sets available to Hamilton Mercedes have looked especially strong on the soft tyre on several occasions this season. In contrast, Ferrari has chosen to focus on the supersoft compound by selecting nine sets each for Vettel and Raikkonen with Red Bull taking a similar approach to Ferrari. The weather forecast, never devoid of the threat of a thunderstorm, predicts scorching temperatures for the duration of the weekend, which could swing the advantage to Ferrari and the supersoft compound.

    There is no doubt whatsoever that Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel must win the Malaysian grand prix in order to keep their championship hopes alive. Ferrari has been adamant that they are, categorically, not out of the championship. It’s time now to underscore their bullish belief where it matters most – on track.

  • F12017: Singapore Gp Review – Ferrari Pain, Hamilton Gain

    F12017: Singapore Gp Review – Ferrari Pain, Hamilton Gain

    IN 2008 Singapore became part of Formula 1 as the first night race on the calendar. Fast forward a decade and delivered another first by becoming F1’s first ever night race in the rain.

    As uncertainty ran rampant the rain wasn’t enough to induce a safety-car start. Sebastian Vettel, after producing a scintillating lap on Saturday, lined up in pole position with Max Verstappen alongside. The Singapore grand prix should’ve been one where Ferrari could inflict serious damage, in terms of points, on Mercedes given that Hamilton and Bottas were fifth and sixth respectively. But yet again Formula 1 has proved itself to be the most unpredictable sport in the world.

    Both the front-row starters, Vettel and Verstappen, were solid if unspectacular off the start-line. In contrast, the fourth-place starting Raikkonen hooked up his start perfectly and rocketed to the front. However, Vettel, in trying to cover his position swept across the track to block Verstappen not realizing that Raikkonen was on the other side of the Dutchman. It resulted in an enormous crash which brought an end to all three’s prospects and collected Fernando Alonso for good measure.

    Singapore 2017_StartAfter the fact the crash was deemed a racing incident, and rightly so. While many would cast Vettel as the villain for cutting across the circuit this reasoning would be tenuous, at best. Firstly, Vettel wouldn’t have known that Raikkonen had made an amazing start and was on the other side of Verstappen. Some would argue too that Vettel shouldn’t have cut across the circuit in the manner that he did but consider the fact that any driver, in any conditions, in any race, would have done the same. In fact, cast your mind back two weeks to Hamilton cutting across the track in Italy, in exactly the same manner, to cover the Williams of Lance Stroll.

    Whatever your opinion on the incident the one thing everyone would agree on is that it was a disastrous day for Vettel and Ferrari. Where he was expected to take back the lead in the driver’s standings Vettel leaves Singapore significantly on the back foot. Because through all the chaos Lewis Hamilton emerged in P1 and was never troubled on his way to the chequered flag. The expectation that Daniel Ricciardo could take the fight to the Merc was nipped in bud early on as the Aussie had to manage an oil leak from as early as lap 15.

    Valtteri Bottas may have finished an uninspiring third but with it has ensured a more than one hundred point lead for Mercedes in the constructor’s standings.

    0069In fourth Carlos Sainz delivered the drive of the day while Sergio Perez in the Force India snapped up fifth place. In sixth, and scoring his first points of the season, was Renault’s Jolyon Palmer who is to be replaced by Sainz in 2018.

    Stoffel Vandoorne was able to translate his good form to a seventh place finish for McLaren while Lance Stroll, Romain Grosjean, and Esteban Ocon rounded out the top ten.

    As Ferrari rue what might have been Hamilton’s victory has gained him a twenty-eight point lead in the driver’s standings with six races remaining.

    On such things do world championships turn.

    All images courtesy of Pirelli Motorsport